Does this make any sense?
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gunhilltrain
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It's okay; sometimes people are not looking at the clock, or don't even have one, depending on where they may be or what they are doing.
The expression that is often used - over-used even - is "during the small hours of the morning."
The expression that is often used - over-used even - is "during the small hours of the morning."
lovecraft68
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Seeing kids aren't even being taught to tell time anymore, this won't be a problem in a few years.
For now the only between you can have starting at midnight is "Midnight and early morning" or give a specific AM time.
Not everything can work like between a rock and a hard place as far as using too similar things
For now the only between you can have starting at midnight is "Midnight and early morning" or give a specific AM time.
Not everything can work like between a rock and a hard place as far as using too similar things
NotWise
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My first reaction was that the expression was nonsense. If I think about it, then I might be able give it a meaning. Does it mean "Sometime after Midnight . . . "?
lovecraft68
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Your first reaction is what I refer to as speedbumps. Like someone else said maybe they think they're being clever, but to me anything that makes the reader go "huh, what" and think on it, isn't a good thing, takes them out of the flow and do it enough they'll drop the story.
jaF0
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The thought was for a spooky-ish story, possibly for AG to evoke a non descript moment when things go bump in the night. Think Gremlins when you're not supposed to feed them after midnight, .... but before when?
The following portion would describe something awakening, unknown to others.
The following portion would describe something awakening, unknown to others.
MillieDynamite
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This might work better for horror.
Not having my watch, I estimated the time somewhere between the witching hour and death's knell. If a damn clock started to clang, I hope it struck twelve times.
But this works for erotic.
The broad had a figure between Venus De Milo and Elvira, not as perky as the first or voluptuous as the other. Yeah, she was looking with a capital LOOK, and she was looking my way.
EDIT By the way, both of these are from stories of mine. The former isn't here, or here yet and the later is in one I'm writing at the moment.
Not having my watch, I estimated the time somewhere between the witching hour and death's knell. If a damn clock started to clang, I hope it struck twelve times.
But this works for erotic.
The broad had a figure between Venus De Milo and Elvira, not as perky as the first or voluptuous as the other. Yeah, she was looking with a capital LOOK, and she was looking my way.
EDIT By the way, both of these are from stories of mine. The former isn't here, or here yet and the later is in one I'm writing at the moment.
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Handley_Page
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Something kinda dark (noire ?).
Unless the reader has been, or is, in Service, it's not too easy.
It's sort-of the sort of time that takes a while to develop in the head.
LilyWaters
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My gut reaction is that it makes me think that the story is going to be a work of magical realism. Something perhaps in the fantasy realm, where time and space as we know it might be defined differently. I'm not sure if that is what you are going for.
Whatever you do with it, I wouldn't capitalize "midnight" unless you have a specific reason for doing so. It's not technically correct.
Ohhhhhhh, unless you have a CHARACTER named Midnight! Then it could be the time between when the narrator was with "Midnight" and the middle of the night! Ooohhh, possibilities...
Whatever you do with it, I wouldn't capitalize "midnight" unless you have a specific reason for doing so. It's not technically correct.
Ohhhhhhh, unless you have a CHARACTER named Midnight! Then it could be the time between when the narrator was with "Midnight" and the middle of the night! Ooohhh, possibilities...
LoquiSordidaAdMe
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I used to work an overnight shift from 11pm to 7am, so 12:00 midnight for us was pretty early in the shift. We considered "the middle of the night" to be around 3am, halfway to the end of the shift. So for me, the passage conjures up those early morning hours.
KeithD
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"noon" wouldn't be. Not too hardheaded, are you?
Abbafan
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It doesn't make much sense to me. Like saying it's between noon and early afternoon. The word mid means near the middle point of something, so it would make the most sense to call 12 am midnight if it's around the middle of the night.
Reading the other responses, people seem to have different ideas about what the middle of the night means and even like it, so I don't know. Glad I'm not an editor so I don't have to argue about these things. Someone could argue that they mean the exact mid point of a given night by "middle of the night", but I think people usually mean a stretch of time.
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ElectricBlue
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Somewhere, some time, vaguely mystical. It's quite poetic.
As others have noted, if it's temporal, it's midnight. Unless Midnight is a faery.
SimonDoom
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Confusion.
One could write: "Sometime in the middle of the night."
Ask yourself how this particular wordage improves on that. I can't see how it does.
If the point is to convey that it happened sometime after midnight but before the early morning, then just say:
"Sometime after midnight"
or
"Sometime in the middle of the night."
The suggested phrase adds nothing.
KeithD
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It depends on the language of what's around it. You reduce it to science. The context might beg for something with richer texture, more ethereal.
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KeithD
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The word "midnight" has two meanings. It's a precise time and it's a time period. I don't see why a writer wouldn't try to find a clearer understanding of a time period by using more than the single word.
jaF0
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That's not a spooky-ish, mystical period where odd things might happen in a darkened room.
The vague mysticism is the target.
Your first example is widely used. Your second example could be any time after dusk which can be quite early at some times of the year. Midnight is that witching hour .....
I haven't even decided to write the story yet. This phrase just came to mind and sounded intriguing.
Bramblethorn
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From context, I'd figure "the middle of the night" meant in the middle of normal sleep time, somewhere around two to four AM.
I like it as a turn of phrase, but it'd depend on the style of the rest of the story whether it turns out to be a "speedbump" like LC was talking about. (A useful expression, which I intend to steal.)
NotWise
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If the "the middle of the night" can be any time after dusk, then it renders the original expression meaningless. That's the basic problem for me. While midnight is a specific time, "the middle of the night" isn't. The simplest interpretation is that "the middle of the night" is midnight, and there's nothing in between.
ElectricBlue
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Interesting. Eight responses took it literally and struggled with the construct. Six took it poetically and read into it the intended mysticism. Which illustrates perfectly that style is such a personal thing, and why some readers will walk away and others will embrace you; and why there is no "correct" reading and no "wrong" one.
"The bells, master, the bells."
"You're right, Quasimodo, but you just missed them. It's just gone five past the midnight hour."
"Curse you, Esmeralda. Late again."
Carry on
.
"The bells, master, the bells."
"You're right, Quasimodo, but you just missed them. It's just gone five past the midnight hour."
"Curse you, Esmeralda. Late again."
Carry on
.
PBAnnie
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It sounds like, "She had nice boobs, somewhere between 36DD and voluptuous."
Also, unless there's a nine foot pentagram drawn on the floor, there probably won't be any conjuring going on.
